From our friends at SURJ NEO:
We believe that all people deserve respect and compassion.
No one should be hurt or thrown in the back of a police car when all they need is a little help. But too often, police target poor and working class neighborhoods and Black neighborhoods for more arrests.
And yet, often what our neighborhoods need are more services: for mental health care, for addiction, for housing, and a hotline to call when we or someone we love is having a crisis.
Sign your name now to demand that the City of Cleveland & Cuyahoga County:
- listen to people who have seen what’s wrong with the way things work now, including people who have been targeted by the police, been in jail or prison, been struggling with an addiction, or been through mental health challenges
- implement a care response pilot program – meaning a trial of a program where community and mental health workers respond to certain crisis calls, without any police officer present – that protects us and our loved ones.
